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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

By Colin Walsh and Dick Yarmy
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

"When will the dinner train start?" new City Council Member Joy Arnold asked Mayor Tom Bozarth at Tuesday night's council meeting, reflecting a widspread notion that is why RJ Corman Railroad Co. is planning to double-track its line through Midway.

Bozarth shot down that notion. He said the new track will allow Corman to park excursion trains "and maybe a dinner train" without blocking its main line, but not until the railroad resolves an issue with a new bridge over its track from the Lexington Civic Center, where passengers would board.

The bridge for the recent extension of Newtown Pike, KY 922, to US 60 is too low to allow the cars to pass under it, Bozarth told reporters after the meeting. “We knew the bridge would be a problem from the beginning,” he said, adding that Corman apparently will have to excavate and lower its track under the bridge. He said "a substantial amount" of excavation would be needed under the new Oliver Lewis Way, named for a great African American jockey.

During the council meeting, Bozarth said construction of the side track is expected to begin Feb. 1, but "It'll be a while" before the town that was spawned by the building of the railroad in the 1830s will get an eagerly awaited, rail-borne shot to its downtown economy.

The mayor closed the conversation by commenting that to his knowledge Corman had yet to announce specific details. “I’d prefer to leave any comments about Corman’s plans to Corman,” he said. Corman's vice president for strategic planning, Noel Rush, told the Midway Messenger this month that the company has no definite plans for use of the side track.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Bozarth commented how much the railroad's owner, R. J. Corman of Nicholasville, enjoys the community and was sure whatever the company was planning would be in the best interests of Midway. Corman has brought his steam locomotive Old Smoky to several Midway events.

Friday, January 14, 2011

From City Hall:
DUE TO MULTIPLE WATER LINE BREAKS THE CITY OF MIDWAY HAS ISSUED A BOIL WATER ADVISORY FOR THE ENTIRE CITY. SOME MAY EXPERIENCE LOW PRESSURE OR NO WATER. THIS ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The plan to turn Midway Station into a residential and commercial development isn't dead after all.

Developer Dennis Anderson, who last month rejected what appeared to be the Woodford County Economic Development Authority's final deal for him to buy and develop the failed industrial park, has signed a new agreement with EDA to buy the property (in northeast quadrant of interchange area in MapQuest image) within 35 months, Stephen Burnett reports in today's edition of The Woodford Sun.

EDA Chairman Michael Duckworth told Burnett that Midway Mayor Tom Bozarth asked him last Thursday to meet again with the Lexington developer. "Anderson liked what EDA proposed, and on Monday board members during a closed-door session unanimously approved a new deal," Burnett reports. (The Sun does not put news stories online.)

The key to the deal is use of Anderson's option fee – "which he still owed to the board even if the deal had not been made," Burnett notes – to pay the interest on the loan that EDA used to buy the property. That undisclosed amount, combined with interest payments from EDA, will "ensure taxpayers' money will not be needed to preserve the deal" signed two years ago, Burnett reports. For more on that, click here.

Duckworth, a Versailles banker, had planned to resign from the board Dec. 31, but "said he had agreed with attorneys and city officials to delay the effective date until Wednesday, Jan. 5," Burnett reports. Bozarth praised the efforts of Duckworth and other EDA board members, telling Burnett, "It's going to be good for us, the City of Midway, because we won;t have to pay interest for another 35 months. That was a big, big issue for us going forward."

Monday, January 3, 2011

From left: Council Members Becky Moore, Dan Roller and Sharon Turner; city attorney Phil Moloney; Mayor Tom Bozarth; City Clerk-Treasurer Phyllis Hudson; and Council Members Doris Leigh, Joy Arnold and Aaron Hamilton.

At tonight's first meeting of the newly elected Midway City Council, Mayor Tom Bozarth said he looked forward to the same "good working relationship" that he had with the two councils in his first four-year term. Then he distributed a list of committee assignments that upset one of the new council members, former mayor Becky Moore.

Bozarth put Moore on only one committee, Cemetery and City Property, but named Council Member Sharon Turner to all three, and named Turner chair of Ordinance, Policy and Finance. Council Member Doris Leigh was appointed to two committees and named chair of Cemetery and City Property. Aaron Hamilton is only on Water, Sewer and Streets, but is chair. Both of the new members who filed for office with Moore, Dan Roller and Joy Arnold, are on only one committee.

When Moore murmured some concern about the appointments, Bozarth replied, "We can talk about them" and Moore did not press her case. But when asked to explain after the meeting, she noted that she was on one committee while another member was on three, and said Bozarth should have consulted her before making the assignments. "I don't think that's the respectful thing to do," she said. "I could certainly serve on more than one committee."

Bozarth did not respond to a later request for comment on Moore's remarks, but when asked immediately after the meeting about the disparity in committee asignments, he said, "That's just the way it turned out." He added that he wanted to reduce the number of committees because some of the five during his first term had not been very active. He downplayed the importance of the matter, noting, "Everything comes before the council."

Here are the committees, with the chairs named first:Ordinance, Policy and Finance: Turner, Arnold, Leigh.Water, Sewer and Streets: Hamilton, Roller, Turner.Cemetery and City Property: Leigh, Moore, Turner.

Turner, who got the most votes in the recent election, was also re-elected mayor pro tem, to preside over council meetings in Bozarth's absence. Bozarth said the council had voted in the past for the member who won the most votes. That distinction was the only thing at stake in the recent election, because then-Council Member Diana Queen withdrew as a candidate, leaving only six candidates for six council seats. Turner was elected mayor pro tem without dissent.

The council honored Queen (front row center in photo) and the other departing members, Charlann Wombles (left) and Sandra Cooke (right). Wombles remains Midway's representative on the Woodford County Economic Development Authority, which owns Midway Station, the failed industrial park that is supposed to become a residential and commercial development.

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News in and around the small but surprisingly interesting town of Midway, Ky., reported, written and photographed mainly by students in community journalism classes in the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media, taught by Extension Professor Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues,www.RuralJournalism.org.